


Sixth's Time's The Charm

by extra_plus_ordinary



Series: Blupjeans Drabbles [4]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Another one!, Blupjeans angst, Blupjeans fluff, Fluff and Angst, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I wrote another one guys stop me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 09:42:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12554628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extra_plus_ordinary/pseuds/extra_plus_ordinary
Summary: Five times saying 'I love you' went wrong, and the one time it went right.





	Sixth's Time's The Charm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chaWOOPa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaWOOPa/gifts).



> *DJ Khaled voice* ANOTHER ONE!  
> This was supposed to be a quick prompt for [asexualyuuri](http://asexualyuuri.tumblr.com/) but it's MY BIGGEST ONE SHOT YET I THINK

It was sort of funny, looking back.   
  
It's cycle twenty-one and they're in their lab on the Starblaster, working to isolate some long forgotten substance found on that particular planet. The experiments are long and the hours are longer, leaving both of them insanely sleep deprived and frustrated.    
  
She's still as radiant as ever, still managing to be the bright spot in the dim room as she walks in with two mugs of coffee, scowling at the mess of paper that litter the desk they share. Her hair is knotted and wild, held back by a rubber band he found laying around when her hair caught fire the first time. Her long white shirt brushes his arm, sending shivers up his spine as she sets the two mugs down and peers over at his calculations.    
  
"Is the next batch being processed?" she asks and her voice is husky with exhaustion, something he can't quite get enough of even though all he really needs right now is a bed to crash on. He throws a glance at the clock on the wall.   
  
"It's going to be done in...like, 2 minutes?" He grabs his coffee and takes a swig, the contents lukewarm and bitter, just the way he likes it. Lup sips from her own cup and raises it to his, the clinking sound echoing throughout the room. "Here's to this one working, yeah?"    
  
He cracks a smile and takes another drink. "Amen," he says, and stands to go and check on the petri dish they were working on. She stays perched on the edge of the table, watching him with a hyperfocused intensity that at once feels good and unnerving as he looks through the electron microscope at their result.   
  
He nearly drops his mug.   
  
_ "Lup." _  He's still looking at the thing, clutching the base with one hand and waving frantically with the other. _ "Lup you have to see this."  _   
  
She's by his side in an instant, nearly shoving him out of the way as she looks through the microscope before letting out a little shriek of delight. "We did it! Oh my God, we  _ did it!" _ She turns to him, ears standing straight up and grinning like a madman and he has a sudden urge to do something stupid.   
  
He gives in, laughing and picking her up, hands on her waist as he spins her around in an expression of pure joy. She's laughing too, arms like a vise around his neck as she braces herself on him. He puts her down, his hands still lingering around her waist, her arms still around his neck as they look at each other.   
  
His brain sputters and reboots in a second, taking in the closeness of her face, her eyes her lips and he wants to say something, anything to close the gap between them and let them stay like this forever-   
  
"Does this mean we can go to sleep?"   
  


Her eyes crinkle and she laughs, pulling away from him and stroking his curls. "Go to sleep, Barold," she says and he swears that there's a trace of disappointment in her voice. But then it's gone and she's back to rejoicing over their experiment, leaving him with a vague sense of embarrassment and adoration.   
  
That was the first time.   
  
The second time it went wrong was 5 cycles later, when they were on the deck of the Starblaster, beer mugs in hand and watching a party unfold below. The occupants of this material plane couldn't have been more gentle, delightedly welcoming them into their community and helping them find the Light. They were so innocent, circling around Merle as he dances a hearty jig(albeit badly). Davenport and Lucretia were at the side, talking, occasionally playing an instrument or being roped into a dance by random people.   
  
Magnus and Taako were dancing ballroom style, the latter in a sequined dress that flashed as brightly as the stars themselves when they caught the light of the bonfire. Magnus keeps picking the elf up and spinning him around, laughing every time Taako yells at him to  _ put me down, doofus, I'm gonna hurl!  _ Lup laughs at this and calls out to Magnus to  _ keep going _ , earning her a rude gesture from her twin.   
  
She takes a long drink from her beer mug and sighs, her fingers tapping to the beat of the music on the edge of the railing. He's brutally aware of how close she is, how their shoulders are close enough to touch with a single shift to the left, how her fingers sometimes brush the skin of his own as they move up, down, up, down.   
  
And then there's a shift in the music as it becomes faster, happier. She's tapping her feet now, twirling her hips to the beat and moving her arms. She's a whirlwind, mimicking her brother's moves as she dances to the music, always a bit off balance because of the alcohol.   
  
She's a whirlwind and he's being sucked in, and so as she extends her hand towards him he takes it, allowing himself to be pulled into the current that is her. She twirls him and he laughs, pulling her into his arms as they spin around in an alcohol-induced frenzy. There's movement in the corner of his eye, and he turns to see Taako staring at them with an impish smirk on his face before the world blurs again with another twirl and another laugh from Lup and so he forgets, allowing himself to be caught up in the moment.   
  
And then there's a shift in the music. It slows down, taking on a more remorse tone as the partygoers below begin to pair up. A slow dance. He feels them stop, the stars above them still spinning as they both take in the music twisting around them, the closeness of their bodies, the beating of their hearts.   
  
She starts to pull away, and he's starkly aware of how cold his skin is as she leaves him. There's a meek part of him that whispers that it's for the better, to not annoy her with his pining and wanting. But there's another part, louder and bolder than the other due to the mix of alcohol running through his veins and the sheer wonder if holding her in his arms, telling him to extend his hand in a dance he couldn't do  _ damn I really should have taken Taako up on those stupid dance lessons- _

 

And so he does, catching her by the hand before she leaves him entirely and offering his other. He's looking down, stuttering out a question before feeling her fingers interlacing with his and hearing her answer in a whisper. They stand for a second, unsure how to proceed before Lup takes it upon herself to lead, showing him a simple  _ one, two, three, one, two, three, thata boy, Barold- _ and he finally looks up from his feet to see her staring at him with an expression that sends shivers down his spine and blood rushing to his face but he doesn't look away.   
  
They spend an eternity and a moment together, dancing to a sorrowful song, looking into each other's eyes and it occurs to him that if he should say something it should be now, right here under the stars and above the people and in her arms and maybe, just maybe-   
  
The music stops.   
  
And the end of the world descends.   
  
The next time he tries, it's another three years in a relatively uninhabited world, filled with docile flora and fauna. It's a rather lazy year; repairs to the Starblaster were done with a quick three months, leaving the rest of the year open to hikes, spelunking and the occasional swim in a creek or lake.    
  
It's a lazy year, and the laziness seems to draw them together. They do many things together that year; she drags him to a mountain range "for research", he shows her a field of iridescent flowers that change colour with the faintest caress of the wind. She wakes him at ungodly hours to sneak out and watch the sunrise together, hand in hand on top of a hill looking over a lake. He tries to pack them a picnic basket once, only to somehow burn the condiments and get the bread all soggy in an attempt to make something related to a BLT-she eats it anyway, even though she turned slightly green afterwards and they had to head back early.   
  
She shows him how to braid her hair, and he's doing this as they sit cross-legged on a hill, now watching the sunset. The last drops of light are thrown perfectly in their direction, bathing both of them in a warm glow. His hands weave through her hair, which glows in the light like spun gold. Her hands rest motionless on her lap, occasionally picking at a grass blade or a flower. Her breaths are slow and even, but sometimes it hitches when he brushes her scalp or her ears.

 

It's a perfect memory, he reckons. It's perfect, _ she's _ perfect, the place is just so  _ perfect _ and serene, and that's probably what drives him to say those three words.   
  
"I love you."   
  
His voice comes out in a wondrous hush, hands stroking the top of her head as he finishes the braid. She says nothing, still as a statue as she gazes at the oncoming night. The silence is at once frightening and emboldening and so he says it again, louder and confident and soon enough he's rambling, attempting to wax poetic about her strength, her laughter, her beauty so she can understand why exactly he's in love with her, and perhaps fall in love with him too.   
  
She lets out a sigh, and at first he's not sure what that means until she shifts and tips slightly so that her weight was against him. It's only then that he's able to see her face, slack and serene with sleep (trance, whatever elves called it) that he realizes that he's been talking to thin air.   
  
He laughs to himself before pressing a chaste kiss to her forehead. "Good night, Lup," he mutters, and settles back to watch the night sky before falling asleep under the stars, crickets and night birds echoing a peaceful lullaby and-   
  
_ Barry! _   
  
It's three days into cycle thirty-two and Barry has just been blasted in the chest.   
  
Now, this wasn't the best way to die, but it certainly wasn't the worst-stomach wounds took  _ hours  _ to die from, and feeling the damage his lungs just suffered? He's only got minutes.   
  
He's able to fire off one last spell at their attackers, bringing down a cascade of rocks that takes out most of the remaining attackers before hitting the ground face up, coughing up blood as his respiratory system starts to close up shop (gallows humor-never in short supply on the Star Blaster.). The trees above him are already starting to blur into one green mass, and he's starting to close his eyes when he hears her call his name.    
  
One blast of heat and screams later and she's by his side, hair tumbling down her shoulders and onto his face. " _ Barry! Oh, Barry, shit-" _ Her hands are jerky and unsure, waving over his wound as if she could somehow erase the damage. She looks scared, so very scared and lost but somehow still so beautiful, so he can't help but smile even as his life dribbles through his lips.   
  
"Hang on, Barold. Merle's coming." She's yelling into her stone of far speech now, screaming for  _ Merle, someone, anyone please come Barry's hurt please _ and he can't stop himself from reaching out and cupping her cheek in his hand, gently turning her towards him. Her eyes, usually sympathetic in death, are brimming with tears, filled with desperation, sadness and something else that surprises him.   
  
"Why are you afraid?" he whispers, and she shushes him, telling him to conserve his strength and that help would be here soon. "Why are you afraid?" he repeats, and uses the last of his strength to tug her closer until her hair is a curtain around his head and she's right in front of him, gripping his hand like she's his lifeline but he can feel himself slipping, like sand through her fingers and he finds that he needs to tell her something before he's gone.   
  
"I'll be back in a year," he starts, and she opens her mouth to protest but he interrupts her. "I'll be back, but Lup, I, I need to tell you something." His heart is stuttering, slowing and he knows he's only got seconds. The words tumble out of him, syllables tripping over themselves in a rush to leave his mouth before it was too late.   
  
"Lup, y-you have to know, right? You know that-"   
  
His heart stops.    
  
Or perhaps it's his brain.    
  
Or maybe his lungs, or a mixture of all three as he feels his last breath escape him and his vision tunnel at the same time he feels his body go slack, and the last thing he hears is Lup calling his name.   
  
A year or a moment later and he's back on the Starblaster, looking out of the window at the inky darkness that was space.  He blinks, shakes his head and all of a sudden Magnus is hugging him, spinning him around even as Merle tells him to  _ cut it out, kid, lemme see your eye _ and Lucretia smiles, quickly detailing major events that happened in the past cycle ("Magnus fought a bear...again." "It was trying to eat Taako's grilled fish! _ I wanted that fish!" _ )   
  
The rest of the night is spent chatting idly with Davenport, watching the members drift to their individual rooms as he remembers how to breathe without hurting all over again. He tries to keep up idle conversation until his eyes can't open anymore, and he feels the gnome's hand on his shoulder telling him to  _ go to sleep, you'll still be here in the morning. Probably. _ and he ambles into his room, not bothering to inspect it for any change as he dives under the covers and blacks out.

 

He wakes up to see a dim light streaming into his room. He groans and sits up, reaching for his glasses on instinct but stopping when he identifies the light; it's from the hallway, coming in through his door that was thrown open by no one other than-   
  
"Lup?" He says, voice rough from sleep. She inhales sharply when he speaks, like she's not used to his presence and it perplexes him until he remembers that he's been dead for about three hundred and sixty-two days and so he says her name again, swinging his legs over and perching on the edge of the bed.    
  
"What's wrong?"   
  
She blinks once, twice before molding her features into a sheepish smile, giving a short wave. "Hey, Barold," she says, a tease in her voice. "Just, uh, came to check up on my fave nerd, coming back from the dead and all."    
  
"Me? Oh, I'm fine," he says even though he can still feel the impact of the spell ripping through him; the ghost pains, Magnus called it. He resisted the urge to clutch his chest as they chatted awkwardly for a few minutes before they were left with an uncomfortable silence, Lup standing halfway out of the door with an unreadable expression.   
  
"Uh, Lup-"   
  
"Can I-can I stay here?" She interjects, looking at the ground. "I mean-I've been using this room since your- death, and I can't fall asleep."   
  
"You've been-?" He looks around the room, and sure enough he sees sparkly tops strewn on the floor, lipsticks open and drying on his dresser. "Oh. Uh, yeah, sure? Whatever you need, Lup."    
  
He starts to get off his bed, feet hitting the floor before she's right beside him, hand on his shoulder. "It's big enough for two people, you know," she says and he's not sure of he's projecting but he thinks that he sees a splash of color on her cheeks. "Taako and I do it all the time."   
  
His voice isn't working.    
  
He manages to nod and scoot over to the cold side of the bed, trying to convince himself that the shivers running down his spine was due to the temperature difference and not because of her arm brushing his right leg as she crawled into his bed, grabbing the covers and tossing them over her head so that he couldn't see her face. He felt her knees knocking against his, their fingers just barely touching under the blanket and he suddenly feels very,  _ very  _ happy to be alive and here and close, so very close to the person he loves but there's something wrong.   
  
She's crying.   
  
Most people cry like how clouds release rainfall, starting with one tear and working their way up exponentially. When Lup cries, it's like a dam has burst, tears just bursting out with no warning or preface and all he can do is just lay there, watching her come apart and he doesn't know why.   
  
He comes closer to her, slowly wrapping his arms around her and she buries her face in his chest. He rubs her back, drawing small circles as he whispers _ hey, it's okay, we're all okay _ and he gets her to breathe in time with him as the pain in both of their chests starts to fade, letting them sink into a state in between sleep and wakefulness.     
  
"I missed you."    
  
She breathes this out and at first he thinks he's dreaming. Then she shifts and now her hand is cupping his cheek and she's looking up at him. "I was-worried. Scared, I think, that for some reason you wouldn't come back."   
  
He used to get those nightmares often, when she was reckless and brash and dead and he would wake up, thinking they were a cycle in and that she hadn't reformed, leaving them, leaving Taako, leaving _ him- _   
  
"I'm back," He says and raises his own hand to stroke hers, tracing the bones in her fingers. "I missed you too." She smirks at this, eyes never leaving his. "You were technically gone for a moment."   
  
"I missed you for a moment, then."    
  
She smiles and leans back onto his chest, arms moving so that that they rest on both sides of his neck. He places his chin on her head, shivering as he feels her cold legs entwine with his for warmth. That death was worth it, he almost thinks to himself. For this moment in time, it was worth it.   
  
He falls asleep before he can say anything else.   
  
(He remembers this: planning to confess in the morning, only to wake up to her boisterous laugh in the kitchen, having a pancake flip-off with Taako while Magnus tried to catch the flying failures in his mouth.)   
  
This was the fifth time.   
  
When he finally tells her it's through a song, through notes pieced lovingly and painstakingly together and he taps them out on the piano in one of the music rooms in the Conservatory. It's over in a minute, mistakes running rampant through the tune and he apologizes, eyes never leaving the keys.   
  
"It's better than this, I swear." He says, fingers still shaking because  _ holy shit it's been three whole months why can't I do this. _ "It's uh, my first time showing this to someone so I think I'm just a little-"   
  
"What does it say?"   
  
She's sitting beside him on the bench, looking at him looking at the keys and the messy sheet music. “The song,” she repeats, running a hand down the keys with a light touch as not to make a sound to disrupt the moment. “What does the song say?” He looks at her and she's staring at him with an intensity he's never seen before, a mix of hope and doubt and something else he doesn't dare name.    
  
He looks at her and realizes something, something along the lines of  _ oh, so we're doing this now, universe? After twenty years? Fine. I’ll take it. _ And so he opens his mouth.   
  
"It says 'I love you, Lup.'"   
  
She takes a little breath and for a moment he's not exactly sure if he said something wrong before her lips are on his and he's falling, caught up in a wave of shock, ecstasy, and love, pure  _ love _ and he can't help but repeat it, again and again as they touch and kiss and laugh.   
  
It was sort of funny, looking back.   
  
When Lup became a lich, she needed an anchor. She needed memories, emotions, and thoughts to hold on to as she became magic and essence and soul. For this, she needed two days, filled with her love for two people, Taako and Barry. It's how she stays alive after she dies.   
  
When Barry became a lich, he needed an anchor. He needed memories, emotions, and thoughts to hold on to as he became magic and essence and soul. She offers to give him a day but he declines, kissing her forehead as they stand together in the ruins of a dusty library.   
  
He already has enough.   
  
And so for his next death, his next and his next he thinks of these times, of these memories so perfect and soft and he's able to come back to himself, opening his not eyes to see the love of his life smiling back at him.   
  
And so as he's falling away from his century-old home, looking at an elf ( _ Taako, that's Taako not Lup) _ who doesn't know him anymore he thinks of these times, of these memories so soft and perfect that he's able to come back to himself, opening his not eyes to see his mangled body beneath him and the knowledge that his anchor might be lost but not gone.   
  
_ Alright _ , he tells himself, mind still playing these memories on rewind to help him  _ keep it together, Barold, you're no use deader than you already are. _ __  
__  
_ Let's get to work. _ __  
__  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Yell at me on tumblr I'm [@extra-plus-ordinary](http://extra-plus-ordinary.tumblr.com/)


End file.
